Leo is a family man
by UK-824
Summary: A.K.A Leo gets a new sister. Tie-in fic to my other story "Son of Hades". After Nico tells him that Leo and Piper are step-siblings, Leo doesn't know if he should be happy or worried, after all he doesn't have the best luck when it comes to family. Follow Leo as he tries to comes to terms with his new relationship. Maybe a goddess will help him on the way.


_"Hey, have you seen your step-sister?" Nico asked._

_"Step-sister?" Came Leo's confused response_

_"Piper" Nico cleared up._

_"How is Piper my step-sister?" Leo replied, still confused._

_"Your dad is married to her mom." Was Nico's answer. Leo's face was akin to that of a confused otter until an elfish grin appeared on his face._

_"Huh. Well howsabout that. Never really thought about it like that. That's pretty cool. Ha." Apparently the news made Leo happy._

Leo Valdez was happily working over plans for a new guidance system for his mechanical pet dragon, Festus, when Nico di Angelo came to the mess hall. Leo was more than a little surprised when Nico explained to him that Piper was Leo's step-sister. At first he had no idea what he was talking about but as he started to understand what Nico was saying, his trademarked grin came upon his face. "Me and Piper are siblings, kinda." Leo kept laughing to himself about it as if he couldn't believe it.

As much as the news made Leo happy, he started to think that this couldn't be a good thing like he originally thought. His thoughts kept going back to his family in the past. He didn't have the best track record with family in his opinion. His dad was an immortal god that would live long after he dies, his mom died in a fire and **that** always haunts him because to this day he still has doubts on if he caused it or not. Even the family on his father's side wasn't safe. Beckondorf , the previous councilor of cabin 9, died before Leo even knew he was a demi-god. His great grandfather got unlucky in love and lived with that regret for the rest of his life. Leo didn't want Piper to be put in that position just because she was technically related to him.

He spent the rest of the day trying not to think about it but all of his thoughts kept coming back to it. He debated telling her but then it would be out in the open officially for the Fates to ruin for him. He already thought of Piper as the cool older sister that he never knew he wanted until he got her. The more Leo thought about it, the more conflicted he became about the whole situation. He was about to curse Nico under his breath but then remembered that he pretty much saved all of their collective behinds on more than one occasion during the last few weeks and he was held prisoner in Tartarus. Leo decided that if anyone deserved a break, it was Nico.

Contrary to popular belief, Leo Valdez does indeed get tired. Especially during the last few weeks. Ever since he came back from Ogygia and met Calypso he had lost some of his ever present energy. It was like his ADHD was brought down to normal amounts and he no longer had the energy to stay up all night and tinker, or ponder or do any of the things that he usually did to take his mind of things. So when he finally succumbed to the tiredness that was taking over his body, he was out like a light.

In his dream, because he was a demi-god **of course** he had to dream, he was in a dark room. There was no visible light source so Leo decided to make one of his own. Igniting his own hand, Leo saw that he was in a vast forge. As he began to look around, he saw that the forge was relatively empty. A few sheets of bronze here, a high powered titanium tipped drill there, nothing Leo hasn't seen before.

"Great. Another demi-god dream and all I get is a less than impressive, empty forge. At least that's all it is." Leo mused to himself.

As soon as he said that last part, something caught his attention. A faint light, a glow from some embers in one of the fires that has almost died. Leo began to walk closer to the almost empty fireplace and looked into it, only to find nothing there. As he peered into the fireplace, the flames from his hand became drawn to the mantle and ignited the almost dead embers. Momentarily forgetting that he is fire proof, Leo jumped a foot back in the air (although the length of the jump would get longer each time he replayed it in his head). In the place of the dying embers was now a roaring fire. Brilliant golden flames danced in a way that Leo had never seen before. Leo's first thought was that he should be afraid of whatever was in that fire because he could feel that there was_ something_ in that fire, but he was too distracted by the flames. Oddly enough, he felt at ease by the fire, he could feel the warmth from it and it felt… homey. Leo was beginning to wonder if his flames really caused that.

"Whoa. Did I do that?" Leo asked to nobody in particular. That only made it more surprising when a voice answered him.

"Not exactly, young hero." The voice said.

"Bronze bulls!" Leo exclaimed as he lit his entire body aflame in defense.

"Do not be alarmed, young hero. I am not here to hurt you." The voice said, this time in a clearly feminine voice.

"It would be a lot easier to believe that if I could see you, lady." Leo said.

"That request is fair enough." Soon after, the flames began to grow to incredible heights and started to engulf Leo. Even if he wasn't fire-proof, Leo had the strange suspicion that the flames wouldn't hurt him. As it was, all he could feel was the warm embrace of the fire.

Leo watched in fascination as a young girl appeared from the flames. She appeared to be no older than eight or nine years old but Leo knew that this girl was far older than she appeared. She was wearing a simple brown dress and had brown hair and fair skin. What really got Leo were her eyes. Her eyes were filled with flames. Not a raging forest fire but more like a nice camp fire. The fire in her eyes weren't destructive, but warm and comforting.

"Who, who are you?" Leo asked, although he was sure he should already know.

"I am Hestia, goddess of the hearth, home and family." The lady-Hestia answered.

Leo quickly bowed his head in respect to the goddess. He knew how temperamental they could get if they weren't shown the "proper respect" or something like that. Hestia seemed to know what he was doing and was amused.

"There is no need to do that, young hero. I am not as needy as the rest of my siblings. You may rise, or better yet perhaps we should sit down."

"Wha-" Leo didn't get a chance to finish his sentence before he saw the forge clean itself and right in front of where he was standing, appear a picnic blanket. Leo watched as Hestia sat down and as she patted the space in front of her, signaling for Leo to sit as well. He did.

"So um, lady Hestia, not that I'm upset with the visit, really I'm all honored and stuff, but um why exactly are you visiting me in my dreams?" Leo didn't mean for it to sound all rushed and nervous be he couldn't help it. His mind had been working overtime lately and so it was affecting him a bit. To his surprise, Hestia began chuckling to herself.

"Um lady Hes-"

"You are a curious demi-god, Leo Valdez."

"In what way?"

"In the way that you are. You have more life than most demi-gods I've met and I have met quite a few."

"What exactly does that mean, my Lady?"

"You don't have to keep calling my 'my Lady', young one, while I do appreciate it, I have a sneaking suspicion that you only have one 'lady' in mind." Hestia said knowingly.

"Is that why you're here? To talk me out of it? 'Cause I'm telling you now, I **will** go back for her an-"

"Relax, Leo. I am not here to dissuade you from your venture. In fact, certain gods find it admirable and are rooting for you to succeed."

"Wha-wait, really?" Leo was very confused now.

"Yes, but that is not why I'm here." Hestia's face became more serious.

"Oh. Then why are you here?" Leo asked

"Leo, I am the goddess of the hearth of home, but most importantly, I am the goddess of family. In times like these, we need our family more than ever."

'Oh great.' Leo though. 'I'm gonna get a lecture on family by the goddess of family herself. She must know about my situation with Piper, otherwise she wouldn't be here.'

"This is true. I do know about your situation with Piper. Although I don't think I'm going to lecture you on it, I do want to talk to you about it." She explained.

"My situation with Piper is that she's one of my best friends and I have recently learned that we are kinda sorta related. And now that I know that, I'm not going to do anything about it because I don't want anything to happen to her because she has the bad luck of having that relation to me." Leo couldn't help but say in one breath.

"So basically you're afraid that she'll end up dead because you have bad luck when it comes to family." Hestia summarized.

"Exactamundo"

"An honorable fear, yet a foolish and misguided one. Why do you fear your relation with her?"

"Because I am bad luck! I only bring mis-fortune to the ones I care about. I don't belong with the rest. I'm just the lowly mechanic, the seventh wheel." As Leo kept talking, his voice got lower and sadder like he was admitting all of his worries. He was.

Hestia noticed and as an act of comfort, placed a hand on Leo's shoulder and smiled kindly.

"Leo, I have existed for thousands of years. I have seen many faces and met many beings. Thru-ought all my years of being, I have never met anyone who didn't matter. You are no exception."

Leo brightened almost immediately, figuratively and literally because his hair had spontaneously combusted. Here he was, being told by a goddess that he wasn't useless. Even in his messed up world of monsters and magic, how many people could say that a goddess help re-evaluate his use?

"Thank you, Lady Hestia. Truly thanks. But that still doesn't change how I feel about my problem with Piper." Leo said

"Leo you don't have to tell her, although I suspect that if you do she will be more than happy to hear the news. You do, however, have to accept it yourself. Being related to you is not a curse. Gaia has tried to stop you by using your family because she knows how much you value family. She is trying to target a weak spot but it is actually your strength. Your bonds with your family make you strong."

Leo pondered that. He did indeed care about his family a great deal. He worked hard so that he could protect them. But he still couldn't forget his mom, his great grandpa and Beckondorf. Hades, even his own dad had family issues! Why should this be any different?

"Because it is different." Hestia said out of the blue.

"Oh dear gods! Can you please stop with the reading of my mind? I keep pretty private things up there. I'd like it if they stay private, if you don't mind." Leo said in a small panic.

"Sorry. Us gods are just used to this. It gets the information we need quicker than just asking. Sometimes we forget that most demi-gods enjoy their privacy. I apologize." Hestia said as she bowed her head a little.

"Apology accepted. Thanks for apologizing. Most gods wouldn't do that."

"I am not like most gods."

"True enough. But back to the point, how is this different? How is Piper different?" Leo asked.

"Because you already think of her s your sister. You have acknowledged in your mind already. You are just afraid to say it out loud because then you think something will happen to her. Am I wrong?" Hestia challenged

"No but-" Leo stammered.

"But nothing. Leo, even before you knew she was you step-sister, she was already drawn into a war. The same with your cabin mates back at camp. They were in a war before you even knew you were a demi-god. You can't blame yourself for the lives that other people live. You can only be there for them along the way. That's what family does. Trust me, I would know." She said knowingly.

The words that the goddess spoke resonated with Leo. He never thought about it that way. Maybe he could tell Piper and not have it blow up in his face. He promised himself that he would at least give it a shot.

"Thank you, Lady Hestia. I'll tell her, at least. Hopefully things will work out."

"You still hold doubt."

"I thought we agreed no more mind reading." Leo whined

"I didn't have to. Its written on your face." Hestia explained

"Well can ya blame me?"

"No I suppose I cannot." Hestia chuckled out. "Go to her, Leo. She will take it better than you think. I have a good feeling about it. I am the goddess of family for a reason." Hestia said. She gave Leo a playful wink as fire erupted from her being. Leo's conference with the goddess was done.

Leo woke up the next morning oddly refreshed. He wasn't used to it. He was usually wired, ready and rearing to go. But this morning his energy was calm. Well calm-ish. For Leo anyway. He blamed Hestia for it. Leo's right hand burst into flames at that comment.

"Ok, ok. Sorry, sorry. I didn't mean to offend. Now can we please put this out, cause I don't seem to be able to?" Leo pleaded. Sure he was fire proof, but that didn't mean that he liked to randomly set himself on fire.

The fire died out and Leo let out a sigh of relief. As he went to find Piper, he got a stranger morning than he planned. It's not every day when a son of Hades comes out of the closet. Leo knew it was a bad idea but he just couldn't resist. This was the perfect opportunity for his long awaited 'sassy gay friend' joke. In his defense, he was trying to ease the tension. After a **very** stern talking to from the very step-sister he wanted to see, Leo knew he had t apologize. And he did it the only way he knew how. Awkwardly. Leo got up from his chair and approached Nico, he looked at him but didn't exactly meet his eyes.

"Um, yeah. I wanna say sorry for my earlier 'sassy' comment. I know it wasn't exactly appropriate and I swear I didn't mean to offend at all, seriously, I was just trying to ease the tension cause nobody was talking or doing anything at all for like, three minutes and again I wasn't trying to offend you I swear and-" Leo kept going on and on.

Leo was trying to get a read on Nico but couldn't so he kept rambling.

"Leo… Leo… LEO!" He repeated because Leo wouldn't stop rambling on. He finally got Leo to stop when he yelled out his name.

"GAH!" Leo exclaimed, not expecting Nico to raise his voice.

"Leo! It's ok. I know you were just trying to lighten the mood, it's fine. It was actually kind of funny, so don't worry about it." Nico assured him, slightly grinning as he remembered the quip.

"Yeah?" Leo asked

"Yeah."

"So… am I attractive to you? Like at all? Just trying to see where I stand on-"

"Conversation is over now." Nico said quickly, all traces of humor leaving his face.

"Right." Leo said, glad that he didn't have to keep talking.

After his 'conversation' with Nico, he decided to talk to Piper. He found her talking to Jason.

"Yo, Pipes." He called.

"Yo, Lipes." She replied.

"Lipes? What in the world is that?" He asked.

"Well you can't exactly make 'Leo' into a nickname." She answered

"So you go with 'Lipes'? Ha, lame."

"Shut up, repair boy." She said as she stuck her tongue out at him

"Hey, Leo" Jason said, as if to establish that he was there too.

"Sup, thunder-dolt?" Leo said as a playful insult. Jason's face looked like a confused eagle at that.

Piper full on burst out laughing at that.

"Hahahahahaha ohmygods hahahahahaha that was amazing hahahahaha." Piper was now wiping tears out of her eyes.

"Thank you, thank you. I'm here till the apocalypse, which might not be too far away actually." Leo said. "Anyway, Piper can I borrow you for a bit?" Leo asked

"S, sure." Piper was still trying to stop the giggle fits.

"Ya done?" Leo asked. Piper was calming down. Every now and then a giggle would escape but she was good for the most part.

"Yeah, I'm good. What did you wanna talk about?" She asked.

"Well Pipes get ready, cause I'm about to drop a knowledge bomb on ya." Leo said dramatically.

"Waiting to receive said bomb." Piper replied

"You and I… are siblings! Dun dun duuuuun"

"Wait, what? How are we siblings?" She asked, clearly confused.

"Well actually we're step-siblings. Your mom is married to my dad." Leo clarified.

Piper was still trying to understand what Leo was saying. When she got it, her face had a grin that rivaled Leo's.

"Dude!" Piper exclaimed.

"Dudette!" Leo replied.

"We're siblings!" Piper said

"Yeah we are" Leo confirmed

"Bro!"

"Sis!"

"Hug me brotha!" Piper said.

"You got it sista!" Leo did as piper asked and gave his new sister a bone crushing bear hug. One that she returned with enthusiasm.

"When did you figure this out" Piper asked once she released him.

"Nico told me yesterday. He was looking for you. He asked me if I saw my step-sister and he explained how we are related." He explained.

"Cool! I got a brother that isn't obsessed with fashion and he's been next to me the whole time!"

"Same with me! Except I get a sister that can steal cars instead of build them, which is just as nice!" Leo exclaimed. Piper playfully shoved him after that comment.

"C'mon, we should head back. Jason's probably getting worried by now." Piper said

"Jason! I almost forgot about him. Now I can finally have the 'if you ever hurt my sister' talk/threat with him."

"Oh my gods. Are you really going to do that?"

"Please sis, do not deny me my divine right to threaten your boyfriend" Leo pleaded.

"Ugghh fine. You can do it." Piper relented.

"Yes! Oh this is going to be glorious. I know just what I'm going to say." Leo said as he began to rub his hands together.

'what have I done?' Piper thought to herself.

Leo and Piper walked back to where they left Jason, only to find that he wasn't there. They looked around and eventually found him in the mess hall, eating a sandwich.

"Dude! Why'd you run off?" Leo asked.

"You guys were taking a long time and I got hungry, sue me." Jason answered as he took another bite. "What did you two talk about anyway?" he asked.

"Leo and I made a discovery involving our relation." Piper said

"Uumm. What?" Jason asked.

"Turns out, me and Pipes are step-siblings." Leo answered.

"Wha-wait. Yeah, your dad and your mom are married. How about that." Jason said.

"Yup" Leo said, popping the P as he approached Jason. "And you buddy, are dating my sister. That means we get to have a nice little chat." Leo said as a wicked grin flashed across his face.

Leo guided Jason out of the mess hall, safely out of Piper's ear shot. All she could hear as they walked away was Leo say "If you _ever_ hurt my sister, I will stu-…"

Piper waited a full 20 minutes before they came back. She noticed that Leo had an accomplished look on his face while Jason was paler than he was when he went.

"How'd it go?" Piper asked them both. Leo gave her a double thumbs up, while Jason looked like he was going to be sick.

"Ok then. Jason, you wanna take a walk around, maybe head down to the stable-?"

"NO, NOT THE HAY PLEASE, ANYTHING BUT THE HAY. AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH." Jason started screaming and before Piper could ask what was wrong, he ran out of the mess hall leaving a perplexed Piper and a laughing Leo.

"What in Hades did you tell him?" Piper asked while trying to suppress a grin on her face.

"I told you, we had a talk. You also might not want to mention frogs, Greek fire, Festus, pretzels, peanut butter or staples. At least until he calms down anyway." Leo said as he started to walk away, still laughing to himself, leaving Piper alone.

"What in the world did he say?" She asked herself, still wondering. She didn't think that Leo would be able to scare Jason that bad. Still she was a little happy that Leo would go to that extent for her. Piper smiled as she thought to herself 'I have an awesome brother.'

**A/N review policy is the same as "Son of Hades". Critiques/comments are welcome. rudeness is not.**


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